Question.2954 - IMPACT OF BULLYING
Answer Below:
BULLYING AND ITS IMPACT Man is a social being and needs to interact with the society continuously to exist, grow and flourish. Being a social being, the interpersonal relationships are developed across various peripheries like neighbors, friends, peers, classmates, acquaintances etc along with the family members and relatives. The mode of communication adopted to initiate and maintain these relationships vary from personal meetings to interacting with the help of technology too. Technology takes various forms such as mobile phones comprising of calls and texts & personal computers comprising of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc and instant messages. However the more people are connected virtually or physically, more are the damages to such relationships. The dignity and privacy both seem to be at a potential risk with enhanced cases of bullying. Today the world has become so complex and intricate that man’s esteem is at high risk. We cannot even imagine the kind of threat technology has posed and is posing upon us in lieu of immense benefits and comforts that we enjoy on the face. The various mediums of communication, today has become a powerful tool of bullying all around the globe. A recent statistics from the i- SAFE foundation reveal that over half of the adolescents and teens have been bullied online and same number has been engaged in cyber bullying. Over 25 percent of teens have been repeatedly bullied through their cell phones or internet. The Harford country Examiner reported that about 1 in 5 teens have posted or sent sexually suggestive or nude pictures of themselves to others. Girls are more likely than boys to be involved in cyber bullying. The Cyberbullying Research Center conducted a series of surveys with results like over 80 percent of teens use cell phones regularly, making it most popular form of technology and a common medium for cyber bullying. Mean hurtful comments and spreading rumours are the most common forms of cyber bullying. Tyler Clementi, Jessica Logan, Ryan Halligan, Rachael Neblett, Sarah Lynn Butler, Amanda Todd are few victims who have fought and suffered from bullying either online or in school and university and met their fate by committing suicide. These are just few names but their incidents indicate the worst mentality of the peers, friends and acquaintances who either intrude into privacy or spread rumours in order to harm someone’s image. All these events throw light to a genuine concern of where our society is heading to in terms of morality and empathy. Bullying refers to the act of willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of various mediums in order to harass, threaten, humiliate, or otherwise hassle peers. With the growth in technology, today cellphones and computers along with internet have become the prominent weapons to bully someone. The effects of bullying vary from feeling depressed, sad, angry and frustrated to committing suicide. There is a link between bullying and low self esteem, family problem, academic problems, school violence and delinquent behavior. Often the victim becomes addict to drugs and smoking. Technology has made possible for bullying to cross all geographical limits. Internet has opened up the whole world and its activities in a small screen in everybody’s house. Today empathy has lost all its touch from or society and kids in particular feel free to post or send anything and everything they want without regarding its impact and pain, sometimes causing psychological and emotional wounds. Often a teen is seen being reluctant to discuss such acts of bullying with the family or adult. Rather they keep it to themselves. This in turn leads them to taking negative steps which could have been avoided if proper guidance from adults and family was taken. Usually teens get into such peer pressures and their confidence and self esteem are lowered to such an extent that they start refraining from the society in general and family in particular. They prefer loneliness more than divulging their problems to someone they trust. Depression is one of the common diseases that the victim undergoes. The feeling of being left aloof in the group, intrusion onto their privacy and the mental inability to cope up with repeated blackmailing and harassment propel the victim to end their life. This reveals another aspect of the whole story. Today we have become so ignorant and pathetic that we tend to forget mutual respect and care. In order to gain an advantage or to put down someone else’s morale we do not hesitate to cross any limits. We live in a world which itself indicate kindness, friendship, humility, empathy and trust within each other. However on the name of being modern and advanced we tend to build a gap where all such feelings are dumped and in place hatred, violence, aggression, meanness take way. In order to excel and put back someone in the name of competition we go to any extent just to win the competition and the game. What we should remember no is that ours is a beautiful world and we have been endowed with a blessing called life. We should devise ways to enjoy the blessing and preserve it instead of directing all our energies to destroy someone else’s whole identity and presence. REFERENCES: Adams, Frank D and Lawrence, Gloria J, “Bullying Victims: The Effects Last into College”, 2011, Volume 40, Issue 1, pp. 4 – 13. Vanderbilt, Douglas and Augustyn, Marilyn, “The effects of bullying”, 2010, Volume 20, Issue 7, pp. 315 – 320 . Kowalski, Robin M and Limber, Susan P, “Electronic bullying among middle school students” 12/2007, Volume 41, Issue 6 Suppl 1, pp. S22 - S30.More Articles From English